VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise: Planning Deployment of Virtualization Servers 2nd Edition

Description

Edward L. Haletky's Complete, Solutions-Focused Guide to Running ESX Server 3.5, vSphere, and VMware 4.x

Extensively updated and revised, this is the definitive real-world guide to planning, deploying, and managing VMware ESX Server 3.5, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), or VMware vSphere 4.x cloud computing in mission-critical environments.

Drawing on his extensive experience consulting on enterprise VMware implementations, renowned expert Edward L.
Haletky offers a soup-to-nuts collection of field-tested best practices and solutions. He illuminates the real benefits, issues, tradeoffs, and pitfalls associated with VMware's newest platforms, using real-world examples that draw upon both VMware and third-party products.

This edition features detailed coverage of new vSphere features such as Storage IO Control, Network IO Control, Load-Based Teaming, Distributed Virtual Switches, ESXi, hardware and processors, and a significantly expanded discussion of auditing and monitoring. Haletky offers new or enhanced coverage of VM Hardware, virtual networking, VMsafe, and more.

All new coverage is thoroughly integrated into Haletky's insightful discussion of the entire lifecycle: planning, installation, templates, monitoring, tuning, clustering, security, disaster recovery, and more. Haletky consistently presents the most efficient procedures, whether they use graphical tools or the command line.

You'll learn how to:

* Assess VMware datacenter and infrastructure hardware requirements

* Understand technical, licensing, and management differences between ESX/ESXi 3.5 and 4.x

* Plan installation for your environment and identify potential gotchas

* Select, configure, utilize, and support storage cost-effectively

* Manage key operational issues associated with virtual infrastructure

* Adapt existing network and security infrastructure to virtualization

* Configure ESX from host connections

* Configure ESX Server from Virtual Centers or hosts

* Create, modify, and manage VMs (with detailed Windows, Linux, and NetWare examples)

* Troubleshoot VM issues with eDirectory, private labs, firewalls, and clusters

* Utilize vSphere 4.1's improved Dynamic Resource Load Balancing (DRLB)

* Implement disaster recovery, business continuity, and backup

* Plan for vApps and the future of virtualization

VMware ESX and ESXi in the Enterprise has long been the definitive single-source guide to VMware planning, deployment, and management. For today's VMware architects, administrators, and managers, this edition will be even more valuable.

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER 1 SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS 1

Basic Hardware Considerations 2

  Feature Considerations 3

  Processor Considerations 6

  Cache Considerations 8

  Memory Considerations 11

  I/O Card Considerations 13

  10Gb Ethernet 16

  Converged Network Adapters 16

  Disk Drive Space Considerations 16

  Basic Hardware Considerations Summary 17

Specific Hardware Considerations 19

Blade Server Systems 19

  1U Server Systems 20

  2U Server Systems 21

  Large Server-Class Systems 22

  The Effects of External Storage 23

Examples 27

  Example 1: Using Motherboard X and ESXi Will Not Install 27

  Example 2: Installing ESX and Expecting a Graphical Console 27

  Example 3: Existing Datacenter 28

  Example 4: Office in a Box 29

  Example 5: The Latest and Greatest 30

  Example 6: The SAN 31

  Example 7: Secure Environment 32

  Example 8: Disaster Recovery 33

Hardware Checklist 34

Conclusion 35

CHAPTER 2 VERSION COMPARISON 37

VMware ESX/ESXi Architecture Overview 38

vmkernel Differences 40

  ESX Boot Differences 44

  Tool Differences 51

Virtual Networking 52

  vNetwork Distributed Switch 53

  Third-Party Virtual Switches 53

  Fault Tolerance (FT) Logging 54

  iSCSI Participation 54

  IPv6 Support 54

  VMsafe-Net 54

  Summary 54

Storage 56

  Grow a VMFS Volume 57

  Storage IO Control (SIOC) 57

  Multipath Plug-in (MPP) 57

  iSCSI and NFS Improvements 57

  FCoE 58

  Storage Summary 58

Availability 60

  Host Profiles 60

  Fault Tolerance 60

  Dynamic Power Management 62

  High Availability (HA) Improvements 62

  vMotion 62

  Storage vMotion 62

  Availability Summary 63

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Differences 64

Virtual Hardware 66

Virtual Machine and Server Management 68

Security Differences 69

Installation Differences 70

Licensing Differences 71

VMware Certification 74

Conclusion 75

CHAPTER 3 INSTALLATION 77

Preinstallation Checklist 77

Preinstallation/Upgrade Steps 80

  Step 1: Back Up ESX 81

  Step 2: Read the Release Notes 82

  Step 3: Perform a Pre-Upgrade Test 82

  Step 4: Prepare Your ESX Host 84

  Installation/Upgrade Steps 85

  Step 1: Read the Release Notes 85

  Step 2: Read All Relevant Documentation 85

  Step 3: Is Support Available for the Hardware Configuration? 85

  Step 4: Verify the Hardware 85

  Step 5: Are the Firmware Levels at Least Minimally Supported? 86

  Step 6: Is the System and Peripheral BIOS Correctly Set? 87

  Step 7: Where Do You Want the Boot Disk Located? 88

  Step 8: VMware ESX Host License 89

  Step 9: Guest OS License and Installation Materials 89

  Step 10: Service Console Network Information 89

  Step 11: Memory Allocated to the Service Console 89

  Step 12: vmkernel Network Information 90

  Step 13: Number of Virtual Network Switches 90

  Step 14: Virtual Network Switch Label Name(s) 91

  Step 15: File System Layouts 91

  Step 16: Configure the Server and the FC HBA to Boot from SAN or Boot from iSCSI 93

  Step 17: Start ESX/ESXi Host Installations 102

  Step 18: Connecting to the Management User Interface for the First Time 112

  Step 19: Third-Party Tools to Install 116

  Step 20: Additional Software Packages to Install 117

  Step 21: Patch ESX or ESXi 117

  Step 22: Guest Operating System Software 117

  Step 23: Guest Operating System Licenses 117

  Step 24: Network Information for Each Guest Operating System 118

  Step 25: Guest Upgrades 118

Automating Installation 118

  EXi 4.1 118

  ESX 4 118

  Kickstart Directives 119

Conclusion 121

CHAPTER 4 AUDITING AND MONITORING 123

Auditing Recipe 124

  ESX and ESXi 124

  ESX 128

  ESXi 134

  Auditing Conclusion 134

Monitoring Recipe 135

  Host Hardware Monitoring 135

  Virtual Machine State Monitoring 136

  Network Monitoring 136

  Performance Monitoring 137

  Application Monitoring 137

  Security Monitoring 137

ESX-Specific Auditing and Monitoring Concerns 138

  vmkernel Considerations 139

  vMotion and Fault Tolerance Considerations 139

  Other ESX Considerations 139

What to Do If There Is a Break-In 141

Conclusion 142

CHAPTER 5 STORAGE WITH ESX 143

Overview of Storage Technology with ESX 144

  FC Versus SCSI Versus SAS Versus ATA Versus SATA, and So On 145

  FCoE and Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) 147

  iSCSI (SCSI over IP) 147

  NAS (Network-Attached Storage) 149

  SANs (Storage Area Networks) 149

Storage Best Practices for ESX 160

  SAN/iSCSI Best Practices 160

  iSCSI/NFS Best Practices 161

Virtual Machine File System 161

  VMDK and VMFS Manipulation 163

  VMFS Types 164

  Structure of VMFS 164

Storage Checklist 169

Assessing Storage and Space Requirements 171

  LUN Sizes 172

  Example of LUN Sizing 175

Storage-Specific Issues 176

  Increasing the Size of a VMDK 177

  Increasing the Size of a VMFS 178

  Searching for New LUNs 178

  VMFS Created on One ESX Host Not Appearing on Another 179

  How to Unlock a LUN 179

  Boot from SAN or iSCSI 180

Conclusion 180

CHAPTER 6 EFFECTS ON OPERATIONS 181

SCSI-2 Reservation Issues 182

Performance-Gathering and Hardware Agents Within a VM 189

  Network Utilization 191

  Virtual Machine Mobility 192

Data Store Performance or Bandwidth Issues 193

Other Operational Issues 194

  Life-Cycle Management 195

Conclusion 197

CHAPTER 7 NETWORKING 199

Basic Building Blocks 199

  Details of the Building Blocks 202

  vNetwork Functionality 215

Network Definitions 237

  Virtual Environment Management Network 240

  Out-of-Band Management Network 242

  vMotion Network 242

  Fault Tolerance Logging Network 243

  NFS Network 243

  iSCSI Network 244

  VM Network 244

Checklist 246

  pSwitch Settings Checklist 250

vNetworking 252

  vNetworks: The Great VLAN Debate 252

  vNetworks: Network Splits 253

  vNetworks: Simple Network 256

  vNetworks: Adding More to the Virtualization Network 257

  vNetwork: DMZ 260

pNIC Determination 262

Conclusion 263

CHAPTER 8 CONFIGURING ESX FROM A HOST CONNECTION 265

Configuration Tasks 266

Server-Specific Tasks 266

  ESXi Root Password 268

  ESXi Management Network 269

  Create Administrative Users 270

  Security Configuration 278

  Network Time Protocol (NTP) 280

Service Console Memory 284

  Command Line (ESX v3) 286

  vSC (ESX v3) 287

Patching ESX and ESXi 287

  Patching VIA vSphere Host Update Utility 287

  Patching VIA VMware Update Manager 289

Conclusion 292

CHAPTER 9 CONFIGURING ESX FROM A VIRTUAL CENTER OR HOST 295

Configuration Tasks 296

Join Host to vCenter 296

Licensing 297

  ESX v4 298

Virtual Swap 305

VMFS Manipulation 306

  Rename Local VMFS via Command Line 307

  Connect to Storage Device 307

  VMFS Manipulation with the vSphere Client 319

  Growing a VMFS 333

  Upgrading from VMFS v3.xx to v3.33 or v3.34 334

  Masking and Max LUN Manipulations 335

Virtual Networking 337

  Configuring the Service Console or ESXi Management Appliance 337

  Creating a VM Network vSwitch 340

  Creating a vNetwork Distributed Virtual Switch 344

  vSC 344

  Setting Up PVLANs Within a Distributed Virtual Switch 347

  Creating a vMotion vSwitch 348

  Creating a FT Network 352

  Command Line 353

  Adding an iSCSI Network 356

  Adding a NAS vSwitch for Use by NFS 357

  Adding a Private vSwitch 358

  Adding Additional pNICs to a vSwitch 359

  Adding vSwitch Portgroups 360

  Removing vSwitch Portgroups 360

  Distributed vSwitch Portgroup 361

  vSwitch Removal 361

  Distributed vSwitch Removal 362

  vSwitch Security 362

  vSwitch Properties 364

  Changing vmkernel Gateways 367

  Changing pNIC Settings 369

  Changing Traffic-Shaping Settings 370

iSCSI VMFS 372

  Command Line 372

  vSC 373

Network-Attached Storage 375

  Command Line 375

  vSC 376

Mapping Information 378

Secure Access to Management Interfaces 379

Advanced Settings 380

Conclusion 380

CHAPTER 10 VIRTUAL MACHINES 383

Overview of Virtual Hardware 383

Creating VMs 389

  VM Creation from vSC 393

  VM Creation from Command Line 435

Installing Guest Operating Systems 442

  Using Local to the ESX Host CD-ROMs 443

  Using a Local or Shared ESX Host ISO Image 444

  Using Client Device or ISO 445

  Importance of DVD/CD-ROM Devices 447

  Other Installation Options 447

Special Situations 447

  Using CD/RW and DVD/RW/R+/R- Devices 447

  Virtual Guest Tagging Driver 448

  Virtual Hardware for Non-Disk SCSI Devices 448

  Virtual Hardware for Raw Disk Map Access to Remote SCSI 450

  Virtual Hardware for RDM-Like Access to Local SCSI 450

  VM Disk Modes and Snapshots 452

  OS Installation Peculiarities 456

  Cloning, Templates, and Deploying VMs 457

VM Solutions 458

  Private Lab 458

  Firewalled Private Lab 458

  Firewalled Lab Bench 460

  Cluster in a Box 462

  Cluster Between ESX Hosts 462

  Cluster Between Virtual and Physical Servers 463

  vCenter as a VM 463

  Virtual Appliances 464

VMware Tools 465

VMX Changes 466

Conclusion 467

CHAPTER 11 DYNAMIC RESOURCE LOAD BALANCING 469

Defining DRLB 469

The Basics 470

The Advanced Features 473

  Shares 486

  Resource Pool Addendum 488

  Network Resources 489

  Disk Resources 490

  CPU Resources 491

  Memory Resources 491

  vApps 492

Monitoring 494

  Alarms 495

  Performance Analysis 504

Putting It All Together 511

Conclusion 512

CHAPTER 12 DISASTER RECOVERY, BUSINESS CONTINUITY, AND BACKUP 513

Disaster Types 514

Recovery Methods 517

Best Practices 521

Backup and Business Continuity 522

  Backup 523

  Business Continuity 529

The Tools 531

  Local Tape Devices 534

  VMware Data Recovery 534

  Third-Party Tools 538

Conclusion 538

EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE OF THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT 539

REFERENCES 543

INDEX 545